70kmph wrote:Fraile looked completely bogus...fakery is strong in this one

My thoughts too.

Animate the break, get dropped, catch up and outsprint, while holding off the peloton on a fairly hilly stage -- what's so odd about that?

Nothing as long as you're on CERA and riding for team Gerolsteiner. If not, wel, well ...

Idunno, de Bonis (the rider to whom you're obviously referring) was taken off the road by Gerolsteiner shortly after that because they thought he was too blatant. Which, for a team with Schumacher, Rebellin and Kohl, means he really was too blatant.

Valv.Piti wrote:Very even performances, a race of attrition, riders visibly getting spent and having close to no matches to burn. By the looks of it, much more 'clean' than the clinic would want us to believe.

Much more clean or cleanER means little. Once you dope, it is doping.

How would we know what a clean, much more clean or cleanER race looked like since they dope, they have always doped and will always dope?

Pinot beating GC contenders two times in a row has to mean either that finally we have clean racing and Clinic forum can be officially closed or that he is more talented and training harder than dopers.

MightyWheelSucker wrote:Pinot beating GC contenders two times in a row has to mean either that finally we have clean racing and Clinic forum can be officially closed or that he is more talented and training harder than dopers.

spalco wrote:I'm really happy that there are a bunch of Austrians in visible roles in this Giro, but from a historical perspective it also makes me nervous.

Who knows what's real or not anymore, but I'm still hoping...

Meh, Pöstlberger two times on the podium is certainly a surprise, but he always was a strong roleur. Konrad even underperformed a bit i would say (definitely would see him on par with Hirt and Reichenbach) but is still doing well.

Preidler is and was always a good rider butwith working for TD he won't finish around his usual 30th place and couldn't go in to breaks obviously.

Großschartner and Mühlberger didn't really shine at all. Even though Mühlberger was Konrads best mountian domestique.

MightyWheelSucker wrote:Pinot beating GC contenders two times in a row has to mean either that finally we have clean racing and Clinic forum can be officially closed or that he is more talented and training harder than dopers.

MightyWheelSucker wrote:Pinot beating GC contenders two times in a row has to mean either that finally we have clean racing and Clinic forum can be officially closed or that he is more talented and training harder than dopers.

No massive attacks, no real long breakaway that succeeded (I may be wrong, it's been a long Giro!), everyone looking exhausted, the gaps are so tight with the top 6, and even 7-15 or so isn't a million minutes difference. The clinician in me says that the big boys are still doping, but perhaps being very careful, taking less and/or taking it less frequently. The pre-Giro busts of the two Italians probably scared off many of the teams and everyone is careful.